不可空手回去 Bread In Bethlehem

我们也得到一笔定金，因为我们“受了所应许的圣灵为印记。这圣灵是我们得基业的凭据，直等到神之民被赎，使他的荣耀得著称赞”。

“你不可空手回去见你的婆婆。” - 得 3:17

　　拿俄米和家人因为饥荒离开伯利恒，多年之后她回到那里时，适逢收割季节刚刚开始。路得每天都到波阿斯的麦场拾取麦穗，神藉此为拿俄米解决了粮食的问题，然而，拿俄米仍然感到无夫无子之苦。有谁能填补她这个欠缺呢？

　　路得从麦场回来时，她倒了六簸箕的大麦出来，又把波阿斯所说的话告诉拿俄米：“你不可空手回去见你的婆婆。”拿俄米欢喜若狂，因为她知道，这些食物是波阿斯为她家族的将来预付的定金呢。

　　使徒彼得也曾说：“金银我都没有，只把我所有的给你。”跟着他便奉耶稣的名叫一个瘸子起来行走，那人便起来行走，并且跳着赞美神（使徒行传 3:6-10）。同样，拿俄米也得到神所赐的一个新生，路得将要怀孕生子，拿俄米便有家人照顾她了。而更重要的，就是藉着这个家族，以色列将会得到一个君王，而这君王也会填补士师时代的大欠缺。

　　今天，我们也从神那里得到一笔定金：因为我们“受了所应许的圣灵为印记。这圣灵是我们得基业的凭据，直等到神之民被赎，使他的荣耀得著称赞。”（以弗所书 1:13-14）

祷告

主啊，在我们等待完全得赎的日子到来时，求祢的灵引导我们，帮助我们忠心地生活。奉耶稣名祈求，阿们。

路得记 3:14-18 Ruth 3:14-18

14 路得便在他脚下躺到天快亮，人彼此不能辨认的时候就起来了。波阿斯说：“不可使人知道有女子到场上来”；
15又对路得说：“打开你所披的外衣。”她打开了，波阿斯就撮了六簸箕大麦，帮她扛在肩上，她便进城去了。
16路得回到婆婆那里，婆婆说：“女儿啊，怎么样了？”路得就将那人向她所行的述说了一遍，
17又说：“那人给了我六簸箕大麦，对我说：‘你不可空手回去见你的婆婆。’”
18婆婆说：“女儿啊，你只管安坐等候，看这事怎样成就，因为那人今日不办成这事必不休息。”

Bread In Bethlehem

“Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.” — Ruth 3:17

英语音频 English audio

Naomi and her family had left Bethlehem because of a famine, and she returned years later at the beginning of a harvest. Through Ruth, God had begun to alleviate Naomi’s food problems with regular visits to Boaz’s fields, but Naomi was still bereft of her husband and sons. Who would fill that emptiness?

When Ruth returned from the threshing floor, she poured out six measures of barley, telling Naomi that Boaz had said, “Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.” Naomi was ecstatic, because she recognized that with this food Boaz had put a down payment on her family’s future.

“Silver or gold I do not have,” said the apostle Peter. “But what I do have I give you.” And in Jesus’ name he told a lame man to walk, and the man was able to walk—and to jump and to praise God too (Acts 3:6-10). In a similar way, Naomi was given renewed life. Ruth would bear a son. Naomi would have a family to take care of her—and through that family Israel would receive a king who would bring an end to the emptiness of the time of the judges.

We too have received a down payment: “You were marked in [Christ] with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14).

Prayer

Help us, Lord, to live faithfully by your Spirit’s guidance as we look forward to the time when our redemption will be complete. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

诵读: 楚云
片头: 张妙阳